This is a practice in focus.
So to get started just finding a grounded balance,
A way of sitting with your feet flat on the floor,
A straight but relaxed spine.
And as you settle into this moment just allowing your awareness to descend into your body,
Starting to notice the full range,
The sensations that you're feeling,
Perhaps where your body makes contact with the chair,
The sense of the clothing on your skin,
Maybe even sensing your heart beating in your chest.
And allowing yourself now to take a few deeper longer breaths all the way in and in your own time all the way out.
And again all the way in and all the way out.
And as you continue with that longer deep breath breathing just gently scanning your body on the in-breath for any areas of tension and on the out-breath relaxing and releasing whatever tension you find.
Again scanning on the in-breath,
Relaxing and releasing on the out-breath.
And to help you relax a little more bring your attention to the muscles in your face,
Particularly relaxing your forehead,
Relaxing the muscles around your eyes,
Maybe even behind your eyes,
Relaxing the cheeks and your jaw,
Even letting your tongue full slack in your mouth.
Again scanning down the back of your neck now across the top of your shoulders for any tension and on the out-breath just relaxing and releasing whatever tension you find.
In this moment giving yourself full permission to just do this one thing,
To focus on relaxing and releasing any unnecessary effort or tension in your body that's here now.
As we continue down the arms,
Down the upper arms,
Scanning into the lower arms,
Even into your hands.
Perhaps even seeing if you can relax that space between your fingers.
And scanning down your torso now all the way through your chest,
Through to your abdomen and into your pelvis.
Again just relaxing and releasing.
And scanning down your legs now all the way down through your thighs,
Through to the shins and your calves,
All the way down to the feeling of your feet flat on the floor.
And then letting your breath return to a natural rhythm,
Whatever is natural to you.
And just allowing your attention to rest on the physical sensations of breathing,
Wherever they're strongest for you.
That might be in the belly or perhaps at the tip of the nose.
Or maybe even sense of the whole body breathing,
That wave of the breath as it comes in,
Fills your body and then moves out again.
Wherever they're strongest,
Just focus on those physical sensations of breathing for you.
As we're training in focus,
The breath is like the anchor for our attention.
The place that we keep coming back to on purpose.
As we train on the breath,
Just focusing on the physical sensations of breathing.
We're developing that capacity to be present.
To choose where we place our attention,
Our precious attention.
To help us stay just a little bit more focused,
It can be useful to engage the language centers in your mind.
So to count the breath as you breathe in and breathe out,
Counting one,
And breathe in,
Breathe out,
Counting two,
Breathe in,
Breathe out,
Counting three,
All the way up to the tenth breath.
And when you get to ten,
Just turning around and counting backwards,
Back to one in cycles.
Sometimes your mind's so busy that maybe just a gentle noting of the inhale and the exhale,
And the inhale and the exhale can help you focus just that little bit more.
It's like we're trying to train our focus,
Like into the groove of the breath,
A bit like a marble might go up and down,
A little groove in a piece of wood.
Trying to keep our mind,
Our attention,
Our focus just on the simple act of breathing.
And of course,
At any point your mind might wander away from the breath,
Perhaps distracted by thought or sound,
Body sensation,
Whatever it is,
It's not a problem.
In fact,
You can be really pleased you've noticed it.
And the instruction in that moment is simply to relax,
To release whatever it is that's captured your attention,
That's hooked you,
And kindly,
Gently return your focus to the breath.
Again,
Just taking root in where your focus is,
And if it's wandered away from the breath,
It's not a problem.
That very act of noticing that it's wandered is your meta-awareness,
Meta-cognition in action.
That's the second muscle we're developing as we do this training,
The first being focus,
Presence,
The second being this ability for awareness,
For self-awareness.
The invitation is still the same,
Just relax,
Release whatever it is that's captured your attention,
And redirect your focus back to the breath.
This redirection skill is the third muscle that we're training,
The ability to choose where we place our precious air attention.
It's the mental micro skills of letting go.
And as we come to the end of the training,
Just taking a moment to check in with yourself for any greater sense of calm or ease,
Capacity to focus,
To be present.
And perhaps at an intention,
You might bring a little bit more of this calm,
This ease,
This presence into the rest of your day.
And when you're ready,
Taking three deeper,
Longer breaths all the way in,
And all the way out in your own time.
And again,
All the way in,
And all the way out.
And when you're ready,
Starting to bring some movement to your fingers and toes,
Perhaps giving yourself a little bit of a stretch.
And when you're ready,
You can move on with your day.
